


Take This to My Grave

by depozyt



Series: Flash fics [7]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Angst, Dogs, Flash Fic, M/M, Terminal Illnesses, Yixing's Birthday Week 2020, church grim! baekhyun, graveyards, more sad than scary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/depozyt/pseuds/depozyt
Summary: "Who are you?""The graveyard keeper's dog."
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Series: Flash fics [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915690
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19
Collections: Challenge #8 — Tales of the Past





	Take This to My Grave

**Author's Note:**

> written for tiny sparks flash fest  
> tittle was taken from mcr's house of wolves bc I was out of ideas lol  
> yeah, yeah, I was inspired to write about church grims bc of the ancient magnus' bride. but it's a very cool folktale and i just like dogs... and cemeteries! i have nothing else to say

There’s nothing special about this churchyard, Yixing thinks as he clutches the keys to the house in his hands. He’s shaking in anticipation as he opens the scratched wooden doors—this is his new home for the foreseeable future. Taking the job as a graveyard keeper might have seemed gruesome to some, but Yixing has always been… in touch with his own mortality. _Memento mori_ isn’t a scary reminder to him, but rather a comforting thought—everything will come to an end eventually, even his suffering. 

The house is small, it has only one floor and its wooden windows haven't been repainted in a while, the dull-brown paint peeling off in pieces. Yixing still thinks that it's charming

The first thing he does upon coming into the small dining room is putting his typewriter on the table. Yixing’s alone, feels like he always has been, and his stories are his only friends in this new town—they can’t leave him. He’s finally alone, and for the first time in a while, he wishes he wasn’t.

***

The job is monotonous, brain-rotting almost, but there’s nothing else to do to occupy his thoughts when he isn’t writing or reading. And Yixing doesn’t want to spend too much time with his thoughts—it would only lead to more sorrow. He’s had enough of that.

He prefers working himself to the brink of exhaustion in order to avoid reminiscing at night right before bed. He doesn't always succeed.

It happens one of these self-indulgent nights when he’s almost sobbing into his pillow, desperately pressing his photo locket to his chest. It’s just too much, some days everything’s too much. Around midnight, he hears a pathetic bark outside his house. Yixing ignores it at first, he's too preoccupied with his feelings to care.

Wild dogs just live here, there's nothing unusual about hearing one bark, especially in the middle of the night. But the dog doesn't stop making noise, it only gets louder and louder, just like the coughing fits that wreak Yixing’s fragile body.

When he finally gets up from the bed, walks up to the front door, he can already hear the rain outside. It's been cloudy all day—maybe a storm is coming. 

There's nothing that could've prepared him for the _thing_ —no, _person_ —on the other side of the door. The man is fully naked, shivering even though he's curled into a ball. Yixing can’t place it, but he knows there was never a wild dog barking outside his home, just this man.

"Who are you?" Yixing asks him, clutching the oil lamp in his hand. There's something eerie about the naked man, like he walked out of a fairy tale, or from one of Yixing’s stories _._ He crouches on the doorstep and puts the lamp right next to the stranger’s face—his eyes are dark and there's something feral about the way he looks at Yixing. 

"The graveyard keeper's dog." Even his smile looks wolfish. "I'm Baekhyun." 

When Yixing extends his hand, Baekhyun only sniffs it instead of initiating a greeting.

Sure, Yixing's heard the gossip, people have warned him about the dogs that keep the dead safe. It's impossible not to know about the wild hounds that attack anyone who dares to disrespect the graves in any way. But he never expected he would meet one.

"I'm Yixing, please, come in, come in. You must be freezing." He runs to the kitchen to put on the kettle. "I'll give you some clothes!"

Baekhyun holds Yixing tightly the whole night until he’s finally able to fall asleep, the coughing fits subsiding. And yet, vanishes the next morning, only leaving the messy bedsheets behind

***

Yixing keeps seeing Baekhyun during funerals. He's always in the background, dressed into a black coat Yixing gave him, watching the burial from afar. Sometimes he starts howling right before a thunderstorm begins—they are quite common this time of year. But he never approaches Yixing like he did that lonely night.

Baekhyun really seems to behave like a wild dog—he's always looking at Yixing with distrust, like the former graveyard keepers have brought him more trouble than he would have approved of. Yixing tries to keep to himself and doesn't disturb him, lets him live his life. Or afterlife perhaps.

And yet, he can’t help but be intrigued by the man to the point that he actually approaches him one gloomy day.

“Do you have a home?” Yixing asks as he sits on the bench next to Baekhyun. “Somewhere you can go when the winter begins?”

"This is my _home._ You know, the first person to be buried in the cemetery is meant to keep it safe forever. That's why some bury a dog first… Well, I was buried _with_ my dog," Baekhyun lets out a bitter laugh. “The fact that you can see me, hear me howl at night… That’s not good, Yixing. I’m an omen of incoming death.” He looks guilty, the corners of his mouth hanging low.

“That’s why you avoided me the whole time…” 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry that I can’t help you.” He’s almost shaking now, but it’s not from the cold, Yixing’s sure of that.

He touches Baekhyun’s cheek. “You can just take care of me when the end inevitably comes. I’ll be glad to go if it’s by your side—if you keep me company. So stay with me, Baekhyun, even if it’s only for a little while.”

Baekhyun takes his hands, his palms feeling cold. “I’ll be glad to stay with you.”

“You must be terribly lonely here…”

“Not anymore, now I have you.” His smile looks somewhat hopeful and it makes Yixing realize that, for the first time in a while, he’s glad he isn’t alone, he’s glad that he has Baekhyun beside him.

There’s nothing special about this churchyard, except for a wild, black dog that sleeps on the of the graves.


End file.
